Unnoticed, He Stands Observant, She Knows
by quiet before dawn
Summary: A K/D Oneshot: They had not seen him, lingering towards the back of the crowd that had gathered for the fallen agent. He had remained there through the service, quietly observing and paying his respects to a man that he had never known.


He had heard about the death from his boss. Not the one he was currently employed by, but the one who had taken him under her wings and had made him a part of a team that he felt secure with. It was an odd assumption to make; that he belonged with the team as he had only worked two cases with them, but it didn't matter. He had never been a part of a team before; a task force, yes - but never a team. With his current occupation - he didn't have the full force of a government agency backing him up whenever he went undercover. As he thought about the cons of his job, he realized that he had a little more freedom while he was undercover. He would never be allowed to leave the watchful gaze of his handler, and return to those who had become important to him. Not that his handler wasn't important to him, but these people had shown him a different side of the undercover line and a different way of dealing with suspects. Luck. It was luck that it had been he who was recruited, and not another member of the force. Luck that his boss had chosen him out of all those who worked undercover alongside him. He had gotten very few breaks in his life, and it had been luck that he had even made it to the position that he had. It hadn't been luck that he had not been by his current partner's side.

They had not seen him, lingering towards the back of the crowd that had gathered for the fallen agent. He had remained there through the service, quietly observing and paying his respects to a man that he had never known. The entire team was there, including another agent who had laid a comforting arm on the back of the youngest agent, only to have it shaken off by the woman. That hadn't surprised him, but he knew a flash of anger had flickered through his ocean blue eyes. He did not know who the man was, but he knew that there was a time to comfort her and this was not it. When the flag had been folded and handed to the mother of the deceased, he returned his solemn gaze to the dark haired woman. She had turned to her right, and had hidden her face in the crook of the neck of the man next to her. The spiralled curls of her hair fanned her sad face, as she folded her arms around her body. Little time had been spent with those attending, but he knew her well enough to know that any emotion she showed would be viewed as weak. There were few people she would turn to for comfort. This man? He was one of the few. He watched as the man wrapped an arm around the woman, whose body was visibly shaking and shoved his free hand into his pocket before turning his head to look at the African-American man beside the woman he was holding. The man observing lifted his head a little higher, and turned away from the group. Time was what they would need, and it was all that they deserved.

Darkness had settled on city, but he could distantly hear the sirens of the police and the squeals of tires upon the pavement. He was in a quiet neighbourhood; one that he had presumed was chosen to make her feel more secure. The job she worked required a lot of patience, and a lot of looking over one's shoulder to make sure that you were safe. His blonde curls moved gently against his face, as the light breeze of the night blew it. He had sat outside of her home before, but not for as long as he had tonight. He was concerned for her safety. He knew what it felt like to lose a partner, and while he knew she was not fragile, he got the sense she hadn't accepted it yet. If she had, she would not be at home, he wondered why those she considered family had left her alone. She had never been one to take comfort into her grasp, he mused – which was why she was sitting alone at her own house, while the silence rang on. He had never understood how she could maintain such a levelled composure when the gun was turned her way, but it all came down to the choice between life or death. A small smile settled on his face, as he watched her close the blinds – not before scanning the street and the sidewalk across from her home. He was too hidden for her to see him, but her soft features were illuminated by the bright light of her home and he could tell that she would be okay. Time. All that she needed was time.

* * *

><p>She had taken the death of her former partner the worst out of the team. She blamed herself, and had repeated her mantra of "never give into pain" over and over again inside of her head. It hadn't helped. The pain that she felt swell up in her chest, and force its way to her eyes so that tears would fall – was not what she had expected. Their partnership had not lasted long. He was a rookie, a <em>probationary agent<em> and they, her _team_ had let him down. It was simply not something that they did. They had their teammates backs, they protected their own, they were friends – if not, family. Her heart contracted at the thought of having to face his family. Surely she would be blamed; it was her fault for not calling him when she realized that he hadn't shown up at the bar for karaoke night. She should have _known_. He had been so excited about the whole prospect of _karaoke_; it was something they had all taken for granted. She had laughed with her friends, and she realized for the first time it was because she had felt at home. She had worked with them for so long that she had not noticed his absence.

Her eyes, wet with the tears that she refused to shed had caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the back. She knew that he had assumed that they had not seen him, but if they couldn't notice one of their own – then they weren't very good agents. She pursed her lips, knowing that mistake had already been made – but the team would not travel down that road again. A hand. It was placed on the small of her back, it was for a gesture of comfort – that she knew, but the hand did not belong there and irritation flickered through her eyes as she shook it off and stepped away from the man. She felt watched. Watched by those who had suffered the loss just as she, but the feeling was mainly felt by the gaze of the blonde haired man in the back of the crowd – observing, and paying respects. She wondered why he was there, wondered why he would put himself through the pain of watching a respected agent being put to rest into the ground – but she realized he was there for the support of the team. The thought made her lips curl upwards, and the man to her left shot her an accusatory tone. She may have taken the death of her partner hard, and blamed herself for the loss – but the dark skinned man felt it was his duty to protect his protégée. She had been led through the ranks by the man on her right, but her partner had been raised by the man to the left. A slight shake of the head was all she needed to let the man know that she was not smiling at death of a fallen friend, but at something different entirely – he turned away, focussing back on the service and she returned to her hidden thoughts.

As they handed his mother the flag, those tears that had threatened to spill came trickling down and she could not show weakness, not around those who were to risk their lives to protect hers – she could not afford to let them see her weak. She turned to her right, her mentor and closest friend taking her into his arms like it was an occurrence that happened every day. A sense of calm washed over her, and she hid her face into the crook of his neck – refusing to let anyone see her in her most vulnerable state. She was strong, she was one of the strongest people to ever be a part of this team – she was not weak, but even she knew there came a time where feelings were broken down and life became almost meaningless. If she didn't have her strength, what was there to live for? The blue eyes she had become accustomed to, despite it only being two cases that they had worked on, were still watching her. She could feel it – however, another set of blue eyes had joined the first pair in making sure that she was fine. The second pair – colder than the first, moved away from her face and the arm around her tightened. Suddenly, the feeling of calm disappeared – her protection had left, and leaving her hiding place beneath her mentor's chin – the brunette glanced back, only to see the retreating figure of the newest addition to her team. She found that she was thankful for his presence, and her respect for him grew.

A long day. That was what the day had brought her – nothing but tears, and copious amounts of black covering the people of the funeral's bodies. Heartfelt hugs, and words of wisdom that did not bring the young woman any comfort as it should have. She knew her resentfulness at herself was what was destroying her ability to forgive herself, but it was something she would learn to work through – or rather, hoped that she could work through. The flickering of the light outside of her home, tore her attention from the soup she had been preparing and brought her eyes to the sight of a shadow standing – watching her movements from her home. If it were someone who wanted to harm her, she knew that she would have a gut feeling that the moment shared between the shadowed figure and herself would end in disaster – but she only felt a calm serenity settle down upon herself. A calmness that had not been present for quite some time, and certainly not after the day that had been brought before her. She wondered if he knew that she could see him. She wondered if he knew that she could tell whenever he was around her home. Two weeks of an undercover job had done nothing to keep him separated from her, and the dark haired woman with the mismatched eyes felt appreciative of the lack of security those higher than he had placed upon him. The woman made her way to the blinds, reaching out and shut them – not before her facial features softened upon the sight of the familiar curls of the blonde haired man. He hadn't been her partner for long, but she got the sense that he would be sticking around for awhile. Strangely, she felt comfortable with that idea – but deep down she knew, only time would tell.


End file.
